Category Archives: toronado

One of the pleasures of the Craft Brewers Conference is sneaking away for a pint and Toronado is an easy bus ride away from The Town and Country.
I found Lagunitas Waldo, a deliciously hoppy Double IPA among plenty of other great beers.

Toronado seems to be the unofficial brewers hangout during CBC, if you’re into meeting the best of the best in the craft beer world, stop in for a pint in the next few days, chances are you’ll see some of your favorite brewers.

Rumor has it Lagunitas Waldo will show up at 4:20pm tomorrow (Friday) at Tiger!Tiger! also.

New Year’s Eve and beer (well alcohol in general) seem to go hand in hand. As such, there are plenty of beer related New Year’s eve happenings in San Diego this upcoming Saturday night.

If staying at home is your thing

Starting Friday and going through 6pm Saturday Stone Brewing Co. will be releasing various beers from the past year at their Growler Fill Year in Review. Both the Stone Store in Escondido and South Park will be filling growler’s with limited and special release beers from the past year.

If going all out is your thing

Stone Brewing Co.’s New Years Eve Party at the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens is the place to be. It’s not cheap (tickets will set you back $175) but it includes buffet dinner, live music, complimentary beer and a brewhouse dance party. Yes, you read that right, a brewhouse dance party.

If going to sleep early is your thing

Ring in the New Year with the Belgian’s at 3pm Pacific Time at Blind Lady Ale House. There will be a ton of great Belgian beer on tap of course. They’ll be open until 10pm if you decide to party a few hours into the (Belgian) New Year.

If you love Pizza Port but live in North Park

Head down to Toronado where starting at 11:30am and going through the night they’ll be filling all their taps with beers from all four Pizza Port locations. They say they’ll be posting the tap list to their website soon, but we expect there will be plenty of great beers no matter what they have.

If you want a cozy sit down dinner with great beer

Alpine Beer Co.’s Pub is the place to be. They’ll be serving a three course dinner with two beer (or wine) pairings for $35.95 which includes ‘Beeramisu’ Made with Captain Stout for dessert. Alpine Beer Co.’s pub is pretty small, so be prepared for it to possibly be a little crowded, but don’t let that deter you.

Bottlecraft is a retail shop and tasting room in Little Italy showcasing local, domestic and international craft beers. They offer hundreds of beers for your enjoyment in their onsite tasting room or to-go, as well as daily beer flights, events, glassware, merchandise, and gifts. Open Noon-10pm seven days a week. 2161 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101.

This past Labor Day weekend I took a trip up to Alpine, CA and brought back with me (among other things) a growler of Ugly, Alpine Beer Company’sBlack IPA American-Style Black Ale. The name of the style has caused plenty of controversy among craft beer drinkers. Some find ‘Black IPA’ to be the best descriptor, it’s an IPA that’s dark in color. Others see an inherant contraction in that name Black India Pale Ale just doesn’t work for some people. Some in the Pacific Northwest want the style called Cascadian Dark Ale, which Stone Brewing Co. poked fun at with their recent Escondidian Imperial Black IPA. But earlier this year the Brewer’s Association stepped in and officially named the style ‘American-Style Black Ale‘ (whether this put the name controversy to rest is a different matter).

In general I’m not a huge fan of this style. I don’t dislike it but if I’m going to drink an IPA I generally go for the good old fashioned pale colored kind. But when I was up at Alpine this past weekend I decided to fill up with Ugly ($12.99 plus $10 for a grolwer if you don’t already have one).

Ugly is black with a bit of mocha head. From looks alone this could be a porter or stout, but upon first sniff it’s obvious that it’s not. Pine and grapefruit like hops take front and center with just a little bit of roasty chocolate like smells coming through. The taste is very much the same, just a hint of roast in the form of chocolate and coffee, but the grapefruit and pine flavors from the hops dominate and leave a long bitter finish after each sip. As the beer warms and sits in the glass a bit more of the roasty malts come through, but don’t be fooled, this is first and foremost an IPA.

Ugly is only available on draft, which means if you want to enjoy it at home you’ll have to make the trek out to Alpine (which isn’t too bad of a drive, about half an hour from North Park without traffic- avoid the 4-6pm rush hour on weekdays). Toronado and O’Brien’s Pub often have some Alpine beers on draft. And even though you can’t get Ugly in a bottle, some of their other beers often show up at area shops and usually sell out pretty quickly. This past weekend when I stopped into Bottlecraft they had a few bottles of Duet in the cooler.

Viktor at Sentence Beer (one of my favorite beer blogs) published an interview with Alpine’s Pat McIlhenney just last week. Again they don’t discuss Ugly directly but there’s plenty there about their other beers and the brewery itself.

International #IPADay is an effort to unite craft beer fans, both new and old, on the internet to raise a toast to India Pale Ales while conversing about beer. As the # in the name implies, this is an online organizational effort, asking people to blog, tweet, post pictures and video and more all based around the hashtag #IPADay making it easy for others to join the conversation. #IPADay is the idea of beer blogger The Beer Wench, and San Diego’s own Ryan Ross. But not all of #IPADay will take place online, many bars and restaurants will be putting special IPAs on tap, running discounts and specials and helping to celebrate IPAs IRL (in real life).

As expected, there won’t be any shortage of places to get a good IPA on Thursday in San Diego. Below is a list of all the #IPADay events going on in San Diego that I could find. If you know of any more please send me an email events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Ballast Point Linda Vista/Homebrew Mart will have IPAs all day long, with a special Sculpin IPA with Lime, Ginger and Szechuan Peppercorn brewed just for the occasion. They’ll also have plenty of other treats including Sculpin IPA with Habanero, Sculpin IPA on Nitro, “Regular” Sculpin IPA, “Regular” Big Eye IPA, Big Eye IPA with Ginger and more.

Karl Strauss will have IPA specials at all of their brewpub locations. $4 pints and $9 growler fills of Tower 10, Heavy Petti and Boardwalk Black Rye will be available all day. They’ll also have a cask at night with Tower 10 IPA dry hopped with Ahtanum, Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook & Pacifica hops. Heavy Petti was brewed by Karl Strauss’s James Petti especially for #IPADay. It uses Cascade, Palisade, Moteuka, and Nelson Sauvin hops with some rolled oats in the mash for a floral and tropical smooth IPA.

Bottlecraft in Little Italy will be doing 3 IPA flights with four tasters each. One single IPA, one Double IPA, and of Mikkeller’s Single Hop IPA series.

KnB Wine Cellars in Del Cerro will have a number of IPAs on tap including Stone Double Dry Hopped Ruination, Great Divide Rumble Oak Aged IPA, Karl Strauss Heavy Petti and more.

Phileas Foggs in Poway will have at least 10 IPA’s on tap and 15 others in bottles with live music from 7pm to 10pm. They’ll also be serving an IPA Beer Cheese Soup in a Sourdough Bread Bowl and IPA Mustard Chicken Wings.

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added. Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events. As always, events are subject to change, check with the venue putting on the event before hand for more details.

The National Homebrewer’s Conference is in town this weekend, so in addition to the events listed on the calendar a lot of bars have some extra special beers on tap and in bottles.

Friday’s seem to be the day most bars serve cask beer so they can ensure it all gets drank before oxidizing. As always Hamilton’s Tavern will have their Frikin Friday, this week with Green Flash Brewing Co.’sImperial IPA.

Over at Blind Lady Ale House their Progressive Cask (they put it on at 11:30 for $2 a glass and the price goes up by a dollar each hour after 2pm until it runs out) will be Automatic Brewing Co.’sTanzanian Devil. It’s a dark English mild with Tanzanian Peaberry coffee. It’s only about 3.8% but it’s mighty tasty.

Saturday June 18th:

Mission Brewery’s Grand Opening is officially sold out. So head on over to Bottlecraft’s Grand Opening in Little Italy. I’m not sure exactly what they’ll be doing but it will be a good time to check out the new bottle shop if you haven’t been. Bottlecraft is both a retail store and tasting room. Look for more on them in next month’s West Coaster.

Sunday June 19th:

Test your beer tasting and identifying skills at Blind Lady’s Blind IPA Challenge. They’ll give you a flight of IPAs and you have to identify which is which. It’s hard. Very hard. But even if you can’t pinpoint what’s what, you still get to drink some great beer.

Monday June 20th:

CityBeat Beer Club’s 3 Year Anniversary is happening at Blind Lady, read more about it here.

Wreck You Palate with Green Flash at Small Bar. $5 pints and $3.50 refills. Plenty of great hoppy beers from Green Flash including Palate Wrecker and more.

Wednesday June 22nd:

Stone Brewing Co.’s South Park Store officially opened last Wednesday, but they’re having a grand opening party which includes events at many local bars and liquor stores this evening. Mayor Jerry Sanders will be in attendance as well. Check out what’s going on here.

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added. Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events. As always, events are subject to change, check with the venue putting on the event before hand for more details.

Thursday June 9th:

Stop by AleSmith for a special preview cask of Summer YuleSmith, it’s only a ‘pin’ (smaller than a firkin) so stop by early if you’re interested in trying it. AleSmith is open today from 2-7pm.

Friday June 10th:

This Friday kicks off the San Diego Beer Week Preview Weekend with the Beer Hall at The Lodge at Torrey Pines. It’s $65 per person for beer and food pairings from some of San Diego’s best breweries and restaurants in an amazing venue.

Friday is also the release of Treasure Chest, a Belgian Pale Ale from Green Flash with proceeds benefiting Chicks for Beer. It’s only available in 12oz bottles and only sold by the case at the Green Flash tasting room

Saturday June 11th:

Second Saturday at Hamilton’s Tavern hosts Coronado Brewing Company this month. They’ll have plenty of great beers including the newish Black Ops (Black IPA) and Frogs Breath IPA, as well as the Blue Bridge Coffee Stout which I’ve heard good things about. The food theme this month is Baja Fish Fest.

Homebrew Mart/Ballast Point will be teaching a homebrew class at their Linda Vista location. If you’ve never homebrewed before (or even if you have) learning to brew with some of the pros will be sure to teach you some tips on making great beer.

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added. Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events. As always, events are subject to change, check with the venue putting on the event before hand for more details.

Thursday June 2nd:

Today kick’s off Poway’s Phileas Foggs‘s Fogg-a-Palooza, a four day celebration of San Diego craft beer. The beer lineup they’ll have on throughout the weekend looks great (a few examples: Lost Abbey Ad-Lib and Karl Strauss 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout). In addition to all the great beer a few brewers will be stopping by throughout the weekend. Tonight it’s Ballast Point Brewing Co. Lead Brewer James Murray. Check Phileas Foggs website for the full lineup.

Friday June 3rd:

Hamilton’s Tavern will be hosting Grand Teton Brewing Co. for Firkin Friday this week. They’ll have Sweet Grass APA in the firkin with plenty of other treats on tap. There should be something for everyone but a few that standout to me: Barrel Aged Tail Waggin Double White Ale and Who’s Brett Dark Sour, I haven’t had either of those but I’m definitely intrigued.

Saturday June 4th:

I have no idea where the Hamilton’s Tavern Mystery Bus will be going, but I’m sure there will be beer. There are two trips, at two hours each, both leaving from Hamilton’s Tavern. Sign ups are at the bar on a first come basis the day of. The first bus leaves at 1:30pm and the second at 4pm.

Sunday June 5th:

Stone is hosting Chef Celebration, a nine course beer and food pairing festival. Nine local chefs will serve food paired with 18 local beers (paired by Dr Bill) out in the Stone Brewing Co. World Bistro and Gardens. Proceeds help fund a scholarships to send local students to the Culinary Institute of America. Check out the full menu here and buy tickets here.

Up in Carlsbad the Twenty/20 Grill at the Sheraton is doing a weekly series called Brewsday Tuesday. This week they’ll have Oceanside Ale Works on hand. No word on what they’ll have on tap but they’ll have some featured beer on happy hour special all night.

Wednesday June 8th:

Head on out to Main Tap Tavern in El Cajon where they’ll have Airdale Dark & Stormy on cask. They’ll also have some ice cream on hand if that’s your thing.

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added. Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events.

Thursday May 26th:

It’s probably your last chance to get some of Automatic Brewing Co.’s latest beer, Insider Belgian Cream Ale brewed for in collaboration with FM 9/49 for the North Park Festival of the Arts Craft Beer Block. They’ll be offering it up at Blind Lady Ale House by the glass and growler from 5pm until it’s gone.

Saturday is going to be a busy day. Most of the hardcore beer geeks within a 200 mile radius will be lining up at The Lost Abbey well before 10am when they open for the Veritas 009 release. A bit was poured last weekend and reports are that it’s great. 750ml bottles will be $35 with a limit of four per person.

If you’re looking to stay more central Blind Lady Ale House will be doing Bruery flights to celebrate The Bruery’s Third Anniversary. They’ll have The Bruery/Cigar CityMarrón Acidifié collaboration and more.

Over at KnB Wine Cellars they’ll be hosting a New Belgium BeerBQ. They’ll have some delicious New Belgium beers including the recently release Grand Cru and Super Cru as well as grilled foods made with New Belgium beer.

Sunday May 29th:

It’s Green Flash Brewing Co.’s last day in Vista, and they’re throwing a customer appreciation party to thank everyone before they close shop and head down south (see Wednesday, June 1st below). They’ll have complimentary food and prizes.

There’s also a special Sunday daytime Drinkabout benefiting Pints for Prostates. The free shuttle will run from 1-5pm, going to all the usual Drinkabout spots in addition to Whistle Stop and Eleven. $1 from every beer purchased at each spot will be donated to Pints for Prostates.

Monday May 30th:

It’s Memorial Day, but it’s also Monday, that means $3 local pint night at Toronado.

If things goes as planned, Green Flash Brewing Co. will officially be opening the doors at the new brewery and tasting room in Mira Mesa to the public from 3-9pm. I expect them to open as planned, but double check before heading over there to make sure there wasn’t a delay in their opening. This is only the soft opening, they’ll have a big grand opening celebration later this summer.Continue reading →

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added. Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events.

Thursday May 19th:

A brand new brewery is opening up in Carlsbad. On the Tracks Brewery is holding their 3 day Grand Opening celebration and kicking it off today from 4-7pm. They’ll be doing it again tomorrow from 4-7pm and Saturday from 1-7pm. I don’t know much about them but they say they are “specializing in the darker side of beer with tasty ales, ports & stouts,” they’ll have seven beers and one mead ready to go. If you stop by On the Tracks this weekend drop me a line and let me know what you think: events@sandiegobeerblog.com

Friday May 20th:

The third installment of Hess Brewing Co.’sFriday Afternoon Club (FAC) is shaping up to be the best yet. The Barnacles will be playing some music, a wood-fired pizza truck will be serving up some pies and of course there will be beer. Three new beers to be exact. They’re introducing Trintas Belgian Pale Ale, Falco Imperial Red Ale (a 9.3% ABV, 90+ IBU red using Falconer’s hops) and Pereo Pilsner, a rye based German Pilsner 100% Nelson Sauvin hops and designed by home brewer extraordinaire Kelsey Mcnair (of North Park Beer Co. and San Diego County Session Ale).

Saturday May 21st:

Some people say it’s Judgment Day. Whether the world ends at 6pm or not, the hours leading up to it at Lost Abbey should be a fun time. They’ll have discounts on their Belgian-style Quad as well as prize giveaways and the original label art on display. Apocalypse themed costumes are encouraged.

Pizza Port Ocean Beach is celebrating their One Year Anniversary all weekend long (starting Friday night and ending Sunday night). They’ll have some special beers from all the Pizza Port locations as well as The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing Co. Pizza Port OB brewed Cho Saiko and Bacon & Eggs will be back on draft as well as an OB anniversary beer.

QUAFF holds their monthly homebrew club meeting at Randy Jones All American Grill in Hazard Center.

But if that’s not your thing stop by The Tipsy Crow downtown where they’ll be tapping a cask of Pizza Port Carlsbad Night Rider Imperial Stout.

It’s also Toronado San Diego’s 3 Year Anniversary. Rumor has it they’re throwing a party but details are scarce at this point. Look for a full post with details when I know them.

Wednesday May 25th:

I don’t know much about this event, heck I’m not even sure there will be beer there. But from 6-7:30pm the San Diego History Center will host a discussion on The State of Beer in San Diego featuring “local brewmasters and industry leaders”. No word on who those people might be, but it could be interesting. Grab a beer at The Prado’s happy hour before hand or head somewhere after for a pint, the event is free.Continue reading →

If you know of anything that isn’t on the events calendar, please email events@sandiegobeerblog.com to get it added. Not all of the beer events happening in a given week make it on the list below, I pick one or two per day to avoid information overload. Make sure to check out the Events page or the calendar below this post for all the week’s events.

As with most Friday’s there’s Firkin Friday at Hamilton’s Tavern, this week with Ballast Point’s Sextant Stout aged on rum soaked oak chips.

If you’re looking for something a bit different head down to Petco Park before the Padres game for their first Beerfest of the season. From 4:30 until just before the first pitch at 7 they’ll be pouring beers from 25 different breweries. Admission to the Beerfest is free with your ticket to the Padres game and full size beers are just $5.

Saturday May 7th:

While not exclusively a beer event, Night on Adams is happening at various businesses up and down Adams Ave, there will be food, art, cocktails and of course beer. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night and it gives you an excuse to stop into Blind Lady Ale House.

Sunday May 8th:

Tailgate Beer is organizing a Can Cancer Tailgate party at Petco Park before the Padres game on Mother’s Day. $35 gets you a couple of cans of Tailgate beer, a t-shirt, brunch and tickets to the game. Get more info here.

Monday May 9th:

It’s $3 local pint night at Toronado from 6pm to close. I think Eleven is still doing their pint night as well (all draft beers) but I haven’t heard much about it lately. I’ve sent an email over to the folks at Eleven to confirm their Monday night special is still on. I’ll update this post if I hear back.

And Blind Lady Ale House, usually closed on Monday’s will be opening each Monday in May, bar only, no food. They’ll be showing a different movie each week and MIHO Gastrotruck will be serving up food for a few hours, this week’s film is Career Courier, a documentary about bicycle messengers.

Tuesday May 10th:

Stone Brewing Co.’s latest pairing dinner, Master Pairings: Vegan Beer Dinner is sold out, so if you haven’t bought tickets you’re not getting in. And it doesn’t seem like there’s much else going on this Tuesday night. There’s a vegan beer dinner happening later in the week at a North Park restaurant, look for a post with more details soon.

Wednesday May 11th:

If you didn’t get enough of Maui Brewing Co.’s beers while founder Garrett Marrero was in town last week you’re in luck, Small Bar is hosting an Aloha Happy Hour with some of Maui Brewing’s beers. I couldn’t get enough of the Flyin’ HI.P.Hay which doesn’t appear to be on Small Bar’s list, but there’s bound to be some other good stuff from Maui.